Easy peasy, just like that Rogers decides to makes some changes to their upgrade process that will “give customers greater flexibility and choice.”

Here’s the deal. According to the internal doc we received it states that effective today, May 17th, the Device Savings Recovery Fee (DSRF) and Additional Device Savings Recovery Fee (ADSRF) are thankfully being renamed to “Rogers FLEXtab.” Rogers will now allow customers to pay off their FLEXtab balance at any time and is based on the same calculations as the previous upgrade process. Once your balance is paid off you can stay with your current device on a month-to-month plan, or decide to upgrade to a new device with a contract. Rogers notes that “FLEXtab applies to customers who have activated or upgraded as of January 22nd, 2012 (or June 30, 2010 for Quebec customers).” Here’s the calculation:

In addition, Rogers will be making adjustments to early upgrade program for existing customers. The reason is to align “more closely to a customer’s 3-year term and the discount received at the time of activation or last upgrade.” These changes also start today and as previously stated the upgrade fee is based on the type of device, multiplied by the number of months remaining on your contract. The good news is that some of the fee prices have slightly dropped:

So there you have it. Both go into place today and Rogers also said that “Customers will now be able to upgrade as early as one month into their term.”

(Thanks tipster!)

Evan

so my 3 year term expired yesterday by chance, how the heck does HUP pricing work when you have no more terms left on your contract? I need to figure out what I want to do…

briggs

I imagine it’d just be a re-sign at that point, and you’d pay the flexTAB term price.

dionysaki s

you dont need that then, if youre contract is expired you can go get yourself a shiny new phone on a 3 year contract for a low price… or buy a phone full price and no need to stick with one company! (you can be with rogers for a few months, then move to telus, etc). If you know someone in the USA, u can get a Galaxy Nexus for 399$ from the google play store!

Brendan

speaking as a rogers employee, you more than likely have a double discounted offer on most phones and the waived admin fee. Thats usually what happens when a customer is no longer on contract.

Hub

It works much better. Ask Rogers hardware upgrade and if they don’t want say the magic words: “I want to cancel”.

BTW that’s why nobody should sign a contract anyway.

Kezghan

I would go month to month Evan and wait till the fall before resigning anything. Fall is bringing a lot in 2012, iphone5, Quad Core with LTE Droids, Blackberry 10 and Windows 8 phones. All should kick a*s. Good luck!

EddieWinslow

now if only Bell and Virgin would do the same with their 3 year contracts.

tendenzi

does this mean essentially ROGERS has no more fixed term contracts? LOL.

Tom

@ tendenziIt sure better, otherwise it is worse, not better then the current situation.

Look at how tiered usage plans have been implemented. They could be great for consumers, but the carriers don’t really want you to have them so they become something that you have to bargain for (and give up other things). Instead of making things better they just made things more complicated.

Brendan

Regular customers on the other hand get screwed. just checked my HUP fee and its $234. before this came into effect, it was 180 ish. They changed it from $15 a month until eligibility date, to $13 a month til term end date. This is bullsh*t. I’m still using my samsung galaxy S Captivate and im ready to get a new phone and now the screw me around like this. definitely buying my own phones from now on. I’ll still sign into three year terms though, because that way i still have access to Retention AND if I wanna leave its only $12.50 (No subsidy)

Alex

Rogers employee here, there is a tiny little foot note on one of our updates for this saying that if you upgrade within a month from today (may 17th) you will be elligible for a credit of the difference between a the old and new total upgrade fees. So don’t worry, it will be slightly more work on your part involved, but at least your not getting jyped.

Jordan

Alex, ‘jyped’ as you put it (normally spelled with a G, short for Gypsey) is a derogatory term. Way to represent Rogers.

Dylan K

Call into customer service, they should be able to credit the difference like they did when they implemented the 30 month data HUP system last year. Don’t expect them to do it in a few months though.

Andy

You can upgrade after one month if you feel the need, but pay out the tab you have, and you’re good to go again.

Mark

Used to be free upgrade after 30 months but now they switched to 36 months. Great!

Brendan

Ya man, The best solution would have been to keep the 30 Months and make this change, IMO

Bugz

This is BS. Before this change it would cost me $60 early upgrade fee but now it’s $135. WTF.

Maybe I should switch to mobilitcity with their 50% off Plans.

AWSguy

Make the switch. I went to the mobi store today, to switch. You wont believe it.. I was after 3 people, there were 2 staff members working and they told me it has been non-stop since the morning.

The more people switch from the big 3, the better it gets! Oh btw, Mobi signal is amazing in my city I was surprised to find it that good after I heard so much crap about them here. And their peak time speeds are more than Rogers!

WirelessBoy

You make alot of sense, you b***h about having to pay $135 for a phone but have no problem going to Mobilicity and paying pretty much full price for a phone…yeah, makes alot of sense.

Jordan

I used to check my upgrade fee via their ‘check upgrade eligibility’ tool. A few days ago it was at $45 + $35 activation + price of phone. Today its $117 + $35 + phone.

Thanks Rogers.

Albert

Cancellation / Upgrade Fees that actually make sense. Hopefully the rest of the industry follows. Really no advantage to buying a phone outright any more.

Keith

That’s outrageous, so obviously Rogers plans on leaving 3 year contracts as they are and all they are doing is dropping the early upgrade for smartphones from $15 to $13 and worst of all not dropping the rate whatsoever if we bring are own phone. Our current government obviously doesn’t mind the blatant collusion the big 3 are flaunting. I wonder if there is any party out there who has a clue about getting fairness into the system because it would be worth changing governments for.

The biggest iniquity of all is not lowering the plans if we bring our own phone–how can they get away with that price collusion for this long?

D Kupiec

So, to Keith’s point, If I bring my own smart phone to Rogers, I should be getting a $13 discount on the voice and data combo plan. However, Rogers will not offer any discount to people that bring their own phone, unlike Bell or Virgin.

Like I said, Rogers is a plain rip off. The problem with this new scheme is that Rogers will NEVER lower the no term price of their phone so that they can still charge you the highest price.

Just an example, the international version of Galaxy note has drop to about $600 given it is a 4 months old phone. Rogers is still pricing it $649! In the States. GN is $399 and Rogers is still selling is $574.99 MTM. This is just rubbish. Rogers is plain robber as they always find a way to hit you hard!

Dylan K

Everyone else has the GNexus for around that price outright, not just Rogers.

Also, we’re cavemen in Canada in terms of Cellphone contracts and services, until something drastic happens.

Jebus

Telus charges $5/month for voice phones, $10/month for smartphones and $15/months for iphones… Rogers needs to be more competitive!

Ryan

I was eligible and now I have a $26 early upgrade fee =(

Max

This sucks for high-end smartphone users but, lets say you get a nokia lumia 710 on a 3 year contract. You’ll get the phone for free and have a 250$ tab. Divide that by 13, you can rehup after 19 months. This is not bad unless your tab is 400$ and up… Wich is for most smartphones nowadays…

Hollander

Oh c’mon, “Device Savings Recovery Fee” had such a nice ring to it!

dizzy

WOW! How is this even remotely considered “better” than before? I just called for the hell of it. So let me get this straight, you pay the 3 yr HUP price on the hardware + $50 and $13 / Month for each month left on Term. LOL would you like to know how much my Hardware costs? PLUS i need to re-commit to a 3 yr term?. Do you Rogers employees just blindly defend the organization or do you think before you start typing away. This is simply known as extortion, and i hope that one day you, your friend and family will experience the wonderful Rogers service, perhaps that will change your minds. Your CEO probably wont last and will be replaced soon and you know this and you know the reasons behind it, and yet you still blindly say “wow this is amazing, now Mr. Customer you can HUP early for $475 + 3yr terms while the new customer gets that unit for $50 ” IDIOTS!. I’m glad I don’t work for you morons anymore.

PeterA

So Dizzy, is it safe to say that if you were told your HUP fee was $475, then you just recently entered into a contract? Is it also safe to say that now there is a shiny new phone you want more than the shiny new one you just got and believe that it’s your constitutional right to have the company take the hit instead of you? If that’s the case you really don’t have a right to rag on anyone but yourself. Maybe a little bit of research before you jump in blindly the next time will help.

BTW, I have NEVER worked for any of the carriers, and NEVER will.

JCMD

Clearly, your problem isn’t with the changes. You’re just an ex employee with something bad to say.

Enjoy the NEW phone that you have, having worked at Rogers you should know that Rogers takes the hit for the phones… why should you get a phone for almost free? Cause you’re special?

As for everyone else talking about switching… why don’t you then? No one is stopping you, you don’t have to come to Rogers. There are other companies, you’re very correct.

Shaun Lee

Hi, everyone, New here….I got my iphone 4 on Nov. 2010. when I sign the contract, I could get it upgradeed two years later, which is Nov. 2012. But last yeat, rogers has changed the policy to 2 year and half. And now, it is 3 years!Can I argue with the retention depart. to follow the original policy? or is it a way to jump out of rogers without losing big amount of money…BTW, I am in SK, there is not many options here..

Ryan

Up until the new economic inducement/flextab thing in January upgrade policy has never been written into the contract it has always been handled as a promotional thing (ie you sign up for three years but on a promotional basis you can upgrade before that) so when they change it they are not breaching contracts.

Alex

So is my situation, and now I need pay more than this monday, to upgrading. Everyone who enter the term before janary should just call to retention, and they should either honor the old HUP policy or just upgrading everyone with the old term instantly.funny thing is, the post on redboard rogers abnout this new FlexTab/new HUP is gone now. seems like they have been complained about this the whole morning.

Ryan

So, last year they changed early upgrade eligibility from 24 months to 30 months, and now they’re boosting it up to 36 months. So there’s no more early upgrade eligibility at all. Awesome. At least I have more incentive to wait out the end of my contract now.

Fed up

Im so tired of Rogers and their policies. Been a customer for 20+ years and the last few have made me unhappier than ever as a customer. The CSRs have no knowledge of the products, for example I call in to ask questions about new plans and call minutes later after making a decision and have another CSR tell me I can’t have what I was promised before.After calling today, I find out during the course of my contract, the hardware upgrade eligibility was extended twice for a total of 12 months without notice to me. Hey Rogers, is it still a contract if one party continues to arbitrarily changes it?Earlier this year I decided to see if one of the plans for new customers could save me money. Do you think I was happy about paying $30 a month more for the same plan new customers were offered. Thankfully that day I found the rare CSR who made me feel truly helped.A customer loyalty program would keep much happier than making them feel trapped. With the new upgrade plan, I can actually save money over time my canceling and switching to another carrier.It’s been a swell 20+ years Rogers, but I have to have that Galaxy S3!

Frank

Does anyone else besides me think that there is price fixing going on with these smart phones? What kind of alien technology is being used in these devices that makes them so expensive? Why does our government allow price fixing on some products but sharge and fine these corporation for fixing the price on other products?

Point: Which would you tkae if it wsa given to you for free? a new smart phone or a new Ipad? If you picked the Ipad you picked the cheaper product. Even though there is more of everything in a ipad than lets say SG III. Ipad 519.00 dollars. Samsung Galaxy 649.00. WTF?

K..T.

I have been a customer with Rogers for more than 20 years. I concidered being able to update my phones every 2 years custome appreciation. How can they show areciation to long to new customes when they offer better deals to new customers?! Also renewing a three year yearl gives less chance of aa customer geting fed up an changing carriers.

Pat

Until I can buy whatever device I want (unlocked) and use whatever services I need at an affordable fee (as you can in many other countries), I continue to buy unlocked phones, buy a SIM card and buy pay-as-you-go service (currently Rogers $100/year). What I really want is to buy my choice of unlocked phone on the open market and add a service package less than the voice/data packages that seem to start at $60/month.

anonnyuser

Quick note,

Today I was able to talk Rogers out of waiving my 208$ EUF. simply tell the CSR:

1./ we used to be able to upgrade for free after 24mnths2./ now that it is 3 years, I have no incentive to upgrade until my 3 year plan is up, and3./ once my 3 year plan is up I may as well cancel and go with , as I have heard they have higher levels of network coverage, better plans and exceptional customer service.

They will try and spin it to tell you the new flextab is a better deal, you save more blah blah… but just keep strong with how you will just wait out the rest of your plan and sign up with telus.

For me, she went from “there’s nothing more we can do” to “ok what I can do is waive your EUF 100%” after my line: “you know what, it’s fine, I realize you can’t do anything so I’ll just hang up now and wait out the rest of my plan and go with Telus after, thanks.”

**Note: I had 1 year 4 months left on my plan. Most likely will work better if you have this or even less time. I’ve also been with Rogers since 2004, that probably played a role…

Just remember: “The early upgrade free completely eliminates my incentive to re-sign for 3 years with rogers, so I will just wait out my plan”. golden line.

Darin

I was totally shocked when I found out about the $140 EUF today on my invoice! I was on a corp plan through my company, as it for my initial agreement; I can get free hardwear upgrade EVERY 18 month!!!!!! I called Rogers a month ago to check my eligibility of getting the new iPhone 5, and the sales had told me nothing but he will reserve the phone for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is it too late to call and ask for the money back?!